Yahoo! which owns Overture has announced that it intends to re-brand its PPC search engine with the name “Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions”. According to Yahoo! this move “will bring together its sponsored search offerings and Yahoo!’s listings submit products under the new banner. Through Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions, advertisers of all sizes will enjoy convenient access to the industry’s most comprehensive suite of search marketing and related products and services.”
The branding change is expected to take place in April 2005 for the U. S. markets and the international markets will be re-branded at a later date. This begs the question of “what took you so long, Yahoo!?” It also begs the question of moving from a one-word, easily recognizable name such as Overture to a four-word mouthful such as Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions. What up with that?
Now, I could understand, re-branding the name to Yahoo!-Overture (or YO! for short). In fact, why not YO! as this says it all?
Let’s look at the chronology for a second. First there was GoTo, then Overture, then Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions and finally YO! – I think we’ve found a winner with YO! It is short and easily recognizable. It combines the best of both Yahoo! and Overture. And it rolls off the tongue much smoother than the present acronym, YSMS. In addition, YO! means, “Hey, You!” and “Come Here!” and “I’m talking here!”
YO! is an attention grabbed where YSMS is a yawner. As an SEO, I like the fact that I will no longer have to spend time explaining the relationship between Overture and Yahoo! versus Google AdWords. Now, I’ll be able to say Google PPC versus Yahoo! PPC and that will be that.
My personal choice, however, would be to explain the difference between AdWords and YO! as this just has a more exciting sound to it. YO! come over here and advertise with us. YO! do you have any spare change to buy me some advertising?
Anyway, not to beat a dead horse, but if I do ever buy a horse I would name it YO! so that I could ride it and shout, “Whoa, YO!, now go – Yahoo!”
